Skinless
by babylerms
Summary: it all started with a camping trip now what happens to the gang when there is a zombie outbreak in bristol?
1. Baby Birds

**This is my new skins story about zombies. The focus will be mostly on Naomi and Emily and there is also a Katie and Effy pairing. I was trying to write original characters but figured it would be fun for the skins gang. Read and let me know what you think. I hope you guys like it . **

"It was a dark and gloomy day…" JJ began.

"Fucking cliché." Katie interrupted.

He shot her a glare and continued his story. The gang was out camping this time sans mushrooms. They sat around the campfire drinking and listening to JJ and his infinitely many ghost stories. When the fire began to dim JJ and Cook got up to go get more wood.

"Make sure you come back soon, yeah? I'll miss you babes." Arsia said to Cook.

While Cook and JJ were scavenging for firewood, they came upon a nest that had fallen from a tree. There were baby birds in it, chirping. They must have been waiting for their mom to come and feed them.

"Oh man look at them. They look like little aliens. They don't even have any feathers yet. Sick." Cook said as he bent over to get a closer look. As he reached out his hand to touch them JJ stopped him.

"You can't do that. If you touch them then you get your smell on them and their mother will reject them."

"Ugh maybe she should. Look at their eyes. They look demonic. I didn't think birds had white eyes. It looks like there's nothing even there." He bent closer and I looked over his shoulder. JJ agreed that something did look wrong. He thought maybe that they were blind. Cook reached out his hand again and this time JJ was too busy watching the birds to stop him. Before he could touch one, one of them hopped and pecked his finger. It pricked him like a needle and a drop of blood formed on his finger.

"Ow son of a bitch." He yelled as he jumped back. "I should stomp on those wankers."

"Leave them alone. Let's go. We need more wood for tonight." JJ rationalized.

"Fine." He said a little begrudgingly.

They finished collecting the wood and made their way back to the camp. When they got back most of the gang was gone except for Lara and Arsia who were waiting for Cook and JJ.

"Where did everyone go?" JJ asked. "I had another story to tell them about the time Dracula came to England, these very woods actually."

"Naomi and Emily went back to their tent." Lara said.

"And Katie and Effy went back to their tent." Arsia added.

"Panda and Tommo went back to their tent and Freddie and that girl he brought went back to their tent." Lara concluded.

"So can we go back to ours?" Arsia asked slashed whined to Cook.

"Yeah right babes." He said and grabbed a bottle of vodka and Arsia's hand and led her to their tent.

JJ looked quite crestfallen that he couldn't tell his story. "Come on JJ. Let's go." Lara said and took his hand.

4 hours later

Naomi sat bolt upright from sleeping. "What was that?" She asked. When she got no response from Emily, she shook the smaller girl's shoulder. "Ems, wake up. I hear something."

"Hmmm wassa matter? Is it morning?" Emily asked thoroughly confused her voice even raspier from sleep.

"I heard something. Someone is out there." Naomi said.

Hearing the slight panic in her girlfriend's voice made Emily more awake. "Aww Naoms, did JJ's stories scare you?" Emily asked finding her girlfriend extremely cute in this moment.

"No Ems it's not the stories. I heard something." Just as she said this there was another sound like a retching and then coughing. "Someone's out there."

Emily was completely awake now. "It's probably just one of the boys. If it was a crazy ax murderer he wouldn't be making so much noise, right?" She tried to rationalize.

"You're right." This seemed to calm down Naomi who always needed facts to believe things. "I'm going to go check it out." Apparently Emily's logic had made her brave. She grabbed her cellphone and unzipped the tent. Emily followed her out. They didn't see anything around where they had set up but then they heard another retching sound. They slowly made their way towards the sound. Naomi saw him first leaning a hand against a tree and bent over. It was Cook making a proper mess all over the forest floor.

"Are you alright? You scared the shit out of me." Naomi asked.

Cook stood up straight and turned to look at them. His face was pale and sweaty but he was smiling nonetheless. "Emilio, Nomi, I'm great. Just ate something that didn't agree with my stomach. Probably Arsia." He said with a huge grin on his face.

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Let's get you back to the tent so you can sleep it off."

After bringing him back to his tent, Naomi and Emily returned to theirs.

Emily snuggled close to Naomi and smiled as she said, "You were scared."

"I was not." Naomi said immediately in defense mode for being thought weak. "I was…curious." She said searching for a good word.

"You don't have to lie to me." Emily said holding tighter. "I love you no matter what. Besides I thought it was cute." She could feel Naomi's body relax. Emily always saw right through her to the truth inside. She always made it okay to feel whatever Naomi was feeling. Naomi briefly wondered if she made Emily feel the same and hoped she did. She realized in that moment there was nothing more she wanted in the world than to make Emily feel the way Emily made her feel. She felt Emily shift and then there was a soft kiss being placed on her cheek. The message was clear. Emily felt the same.

"Now I'm worried about Cook. I've never seen him throw up before. He drinks more than any of us and remember on his birthday he ate a whole cake in one sitting and he never did." Emily said pondering the situation.

"I don't know. He's probably just getting a bug. Everyone gets sick Ems."

"Mmmhmmm." Emily said starting to drift off.

Emily fell asleep and Naomi lay there still thinking, about Cook and camping trips and how they never seem to end well for the gang, but mostly she thought about the beautiful girl now fast asleep in her arms. It was with these thoughts of her fiery redhead that Naomi fell asleep.

The next morning Naomi and Emily woke up and went out to eat breakfast with the gang.

"Good morning. I would ask you if you slept well but judging by the noises that were emanating from your tent I would say that there wasn't much sleeping going on." JJ said not in a dirty way insinuating anything but in his JJ way that drew conclusions purely from his observations. Still Emily blushed slightly.

"We slept fine, Jay." Naomi answered. "Except we were woken up by Cook tossing his cookies all over the place."

"Yes we heard something too but JJ and I were too scared to go out and investigate." Lara said and this time it was JJ's turn to blush.

"Statistically speaking all horror movies that involve a group of teens drinking and shagging in the woods ends with them all dead in horrific and gruesome ways and none of them ever think they are in a move so the probability that we are in fact in a horror movie…" JJ started rambling before Lara stopped him. "Jay, you're getting locked on."

"Sorry." He said.

"Anyway," Naomi said trying to bring them back on topic, "Has anyone seen Cook this morning?"

"No. Arsia either." Freddie stated.

"Should we check on them?" Panda asked concern apparent in her voice.  
>"I will." Naomi said. She walked over to the tent she knew Cook and Arsia had slept in. She could hear heavy breathing and then Cook started crying out, "Grab my balls. Grab my balls." Naomi again rolled her eyes and walked back to the gang.<p>

"Well they sound fine."

They could tell by the tone in her voice what she meant. The gang settled and began eating breakfast before the long drive home. About fifteen minutes later Arsia and Cook emerged from their tent. Cook looked even worse than last night. He was deathly pale still and his hair and clothes were drenched with sweat. He had red lines running up his arms and the pinprick the baby bird's beak had left on his finger was now highly infected and had grown a bit in diameter. His whole finger was red and swollen.

"Cook babes, you look like microwaved shit." Katie said as she sat on Effy's lap and threw her arm around Effy's neck.

"Katie love, thanks. I feel like microwaved shit." Cook said.

"Yeah I don't know what happened to this one but we were in the middle of some really steamy shagging, yeah, and this one starts gagging and has to run out. Seems like some shit like…food poisoning, innit?" Arsia added.

"I don't think so. I don't like the looks of that wound." JJ said.

"Yeah or those lines running up his arms. JJ what is it?" Freddie asked concern in his voice.

"An infection of some sort I suppose. Must be from the bird that pecked at him last night. Although I'm not familiar with this." JJ said lost in thought. It wasn't often that he didn't know everything about a subject.

"I think we should take him to the hospital." Emily suggested.

"No, no way," Cook immediately objected, "those nosey wankers always ask to many questions and stick their shit where it doesn't belong," He said as he being to scratch his finger that had the cut on it, "I just need some rest. This one didn't let me get much last night. Isn't that right, babes?" Cook asked grinning smugly.

"Right babes but not like you didn't want it. This one here got frisky and bit my shoulder. He even broke the skin. Kinky innit?" Arsia said proudly showing off her shoulder.

On the ride home Naomi turned around in her seat and looked at Cook. "You are incredible you know that? You're a real winner." She said sarcastically.

"What's that? What are you mad at me for?" Cook asked clueless.

"You're sick as a dog and if possible grosser than I've ever seen you and you still manage to have sex."

He laughed his big Cook laugh, "Ain't no stopping the Cookie Monster," he said and winked. The ride was peaceful for a while.

"Pull over. Pull over." Panda yelled to Effy who was driving. "Cook's about to blow to bits all over the floor." Effy pulled over and the gang piled out so Cook could safely blow to bits as Panda put it.

"I still think we should go to the hospital." Emily said looking at Naomi for support.

"I agree. Besides Arsia's not looking so good either. She may have caught it. It'd be best to get it checked out." Naomi added.

Just as Cook turned around to object Naomi stopped him. "You're too weak to object. We're going."

"Arsia, how are you feeling?" JJ asked walking over to her. He lifted his hand to her forehead and stopped before touching her asking her for permission with his eyes. Arsia nodded that it was okay.

"I'm all right. A little nauseous." Arsia answered a bit concerned.

"You definitely have a fever," JJ said, "I would say at least thirty-eight degrees centigrade."

"Jay, how can you know that?" Freddie asked for a minute distracted from the real problem in amazement at JJ's skills. He and the girl he brought, Gina, had smoked a spliff before the drama with Cook started.

JJ just shrugged. "But I have to also agree with Emily as Naomi did. We should go to a hospital before dehydration sets in, if it hasn't already for Cook." As JJ said this Cook again hunched over and started heaving.

"Fucking hospital filled with fucking tossers." Cook said. Freddie and Thomas went over and helped him back into the car.

They all got back into the car now more shaken up. As Effy drove she took one hand off the wheel to grab one of Katie's that was resting in her lap. Katie had been spacing out but now she looked at Effy and smiled. Both girls had a tough front and pretended to be so strong, as if they could handle anything. They both hid everything from everyone but not from each other. They could be weak in front of each other and strong for each other. They were each other's safe place where they could be completely themselves.

Cook started moaning in the back and could barely move. He was completely out of it. When they arrived at the hospital, Naomi and Emily ran into the emergency room.

"We need help. Our friend is in the car and he's really sick. He can't move. Please help him." Naomi said as she got to the front desk slightly out of breath from running in. She leaned against the counter as two paramedics arrived with a stretcher.

"This way." Emily said and took off holding on to Naomi's hand. They got back to the car and the gang had formed a circle around the car with its doors open. Cook was lying down in the back seat. The paramedics lifted him out and strapped him onto the stretcher. They rushed him inside with the gang following. They pushed him through doors that the gang wasn't allowed to go through.

"What's going to happen?" Naomi asked.

"They'll help him. Does he have family?" A nurse asked.

"I'm his sister." Naomi lied easily.

"Could you have someone check out her too?" JJ asked the nurse indicating to Arsia. "She said she felt nauseous and she has a fever. She might be getting what Cook has."

"No, really I'm fine." Arsia said nervously.

"Let me see." The nurse touched Arsia's forehead. "You're burning up. We'll get someone to check you out. Don't worry dear with you we caught it early. This way you won't get as bad as him. You'll only get better." She said with a reassuring smile.

They waited for hours and hours. Around noon a doctor came out and whisked Arsia away. Then more hours passed with no news of either Cook or Arsia.

"Look Freddie love, I have to get home." Gina said.

"Okay." He looked to Effy.

"I'll give you guys a ride."

"I'm coming with you." Katie said and stood next to Effy.

"Me too. Mom's out of her tree worried. She's called my phone lots." Panda added and Thomas decided to go to.

It ended up with only Naomi and Emily staying.

"We'll call you guys when we hear something." Emily said to the gang.

So the gang left and Emily and Naomi sat there with Emily's head resting on Naomi's shoulder and Naomi's head resting against Emily's. When it started to get dark, Naomi had decided she had had it.

"Excuse me," She said to the nurses at the front desk, "when will they tell us something? We've been here since ten this morning and now it is almost ten at night. Surely they must know something and can give us some information. Not to mention my friend, the girl, wasn't that bad and we haven't heard anything about her either."

The nurse listened to this rant with an expressionless face. She was a different one from earlier. "When they know something, they will let you know."

"Isn't there anyone I can speak to for an update?" Naomi asked becoming irritated.

"One second." The nurse answered as she picked up a phone. When she finished she turned to Naomi and said, "Dr. Higgins will come speak with you."

Naomi now satisfied returned to her seat next to Emily and they waited for Dr. Higgins. About ten minutes later he came through the doors with a tense look on his face.

Naomi and Emily stood up with matching worried expressions.

"I'm Dr. Higgins. I've been one of Cook's doctors."

"How is he? What does he have?"

"We don't know exactly what it is. It is unlike any other illness we have seen. It presents itself a bit like the flu with the characteristics of fever, nausea, and aches but it doesn't respond to any medication and it is clear the body cannot fight it off itself."

"So how is he?" Emily asked even more worried upon hearing the diagnosis or lack thereof.

Dr. Higgins looked down at the floor a bit reluctant to tell them. "Does Cook have any other family, a mother or father, someone…older?" He didn't want to tell the bad news to such young girls not that this was easy news to tell anyone.

"We're the only family he has." Naomi answered to get the information.

"Well, he is becoming increasingly worse with each minute that passes. This virus is killing all his cells ever more rapidly. I wish I had better news but I'm almost one hundred percent sure he will not recover from this. He has only hours to live."

"Why? Why haven't you told us anything until now?" Naomi asked angrily.

"We had nothing to tell, just that he was not doing good. We were trying many different kinds of treatments and even now the other doctors are still trying but there isn't much hope."

"What about Arsia?" Emily asked tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm afraid she is also not doing well. She too has gotten worse. She is not as serious as he is right now but she's not responding to any treatment either so she has more time but the results will end up being the same."

"Oh god." Emily said as she sobbed into her hands.

"I'm so sorry. I wish I had better news to tell you. There is one more thing. We would like to run blood tests on you two and whoever else was with you. We know very little about this virus and unfortunately we do not how it is transmitted. It is just precautionary but we want to make sure it was not spread to anyone else."

Naomi and Emily looked panicked and scared and Dr. Higgins picked up on it.

"Don't worry like I said it is just precautionary. I believe that if anyone else had been infected they would have already been showing symptoms. This virus is very fast moving."

"I'll call everyone else and let them know." Naomi said.

"Can we at least see Cook and Arsia?" Emily asked.

"Unfortunately no, they are both in a quarantine unit and only authorized personal are allowed back there. You understand we can't allow this to spread. Now I will set up blood tests for you two and your friends when they get here. A nurse will be out shortly to get you two." With that final thought Dr. Higgins went back through the doors. Emily turned to Naomi still crying and wrapped her arms around her neck.

"I'm scared." She whispered into Naomi's shoulder.

"I know." She rubbed comforting circles on Emily's back. "I better call the gang and get them here."

"I'll call Katie and Effy. Naomi, do you think we'll be okay?" Emily asked looking up at Naomi. Naomi noted how childlike and helpless Emily looked.

"We're going to be fine." She stated as reassuringly as she could even though inside she felt as scared as Emily was.

An hour later the whole gang sat in the waiting room. They all either had tears still staining their cheeks or frowns on their faces. They were waiting for their blood test results and any more news on Cook and Arsia. When Dr. Higgins came back through the doors all ten of them stood in unison.

"Well I finally have some good news to tell you. It appears that none of you have the virus."

"Appears?" Panda asked worried.

"Yes at the time you're all clear."

"Meaning that since they don't know much about the virus they don't know whether it could lay dormant in our bodies for some time before presenting itself or being triggered." JJ tried to clarify.

"Yes," Dr. Higgins said with a disapproving look on his face. He was upset that this was a virus that was unidentifiable and now he didn't want to panic these kids anymore, "but I wouldn't worry. Like I've said before this virus is extremely fast moving so it is highly unlikely it would lay dormant. It seems to like making its presence known."

"What should we do now?" Effy asked one arm around Katie's shoulders keeping her close.

"Go home. Get some sleep. It's been a long day. We will call Ms. Campbell if there is any significant change in Mr. Cook's status."

"What about Arsia?" Freddie asked.

"Her parents are here. I told her mom to call me if she needs anything." Naomi answered.

The gang walked back to Effy's car dejected. They all piled in and noted how they had more room but none of them were grateful for it. The ride home was quiet. No one could think of anything to say that wasn't sad or just too awful to think about. Effy dropped everyone off then took Katie, Emily, Naomi, and herself back to the Fitch house. Rob, Jenna, and James were gone visiting a sister of Jenna's. Normally, when Rob and Jenna were gone for the night and both couples were staying at the Fitches' the girls would switch which couple would get the twins' room and which couple would get the guest room but tonight they all stayed in the twins' room. Everyone was shaken up by what happened and the company was good for comfort. The four of them fell asleep with the television on at about two in the morning. At five the telly started blaring its alert system awaking the four girls from their slumber.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Effy asked sitting up in bed.

"Algjfgj…" Katie mumbled unintelligibly annoyed at the disruption in her beauty rest caused by both the sound emanating from the television and Effy's shifting in bed.

"Katie, wake up." Effy said.

Naomi was already gently shaking Emily's shoulder. The twins weren't the easiest to wake up. When Emily was awake enough, Naomi turned her attention to the television screen. It said in big red letters 'Warning: This is not a test' as the siren like noise sounded. Naomi started flipping through the channels and they all said the same thing.

"Bloody useless. It doesn't even say what the emergency is." She said as she continued flipping. Just as she said this a news program came on. There was a lady standing outside the very hospital they had been at that day.

"We're unsure how this all began but it's like something from a horror movie. It seems the dead are coming back to life." The lady said as in the background cops could be seen shooting at people but the people didn't look alive. When they were shot, they continued walking towards the cops.

"It seems extremely difficult to stop these creatures and they have a taste for human flesh. The authorities are advising everyone to stay inside their homes and to not only lock the doors but also barricade themselves inside. Place objects against doors and try to nail anything you can across windows. These creatures don't seem to be smart but are very persistent and you can easily become overpowered by the number of them. The city of Bristol has been quarantined and the army has come to get this situation under control. Stayed tuned for more news and again I stress do not leave your homes until the authorities let us know it is safe." The lady made her way to an armored truck while cops covered her.

"Amazing there's still news." Effy said.

"You think this has to do with Cook and Arsia?" Emily asked now fully awake.

"I tend not to believe in coincidences so yes." Naomi said.

"It's unbelievable. Zombies." Effy said and the four of them stood there shocked in silence for a few moments.

"Oh my god. The doors and windows…we have to do what they said." Katie said as she jumped up and ran out the door. This news finally sunk into the brains of the other three girls and they hurried out of the room following Katie.


	2. Jason

**Thanks to all who read and reviewed. This chapter is up much more quickly than I would've ever guessed but this story is pretty fun to write. Unfortunately another main character is about to take a turn for the worse. Can anyone guess who will be left at the end? There's also a Palex like line, points to anyone who can guess it. Review and let me know what you think .**

"Fuck no one is answering their phones." Katie said throwing her cell to the other side of the couch.

"What'd you suppose that means?" Emily asked.

"Nothing good." Katie answered quietly.

"Don't say that. We don't know what happened so we can't assume anything." Naomi explained.

Effy stood at one window peaking out. The girls couldn't find anything solid to block them with so they had nailed blankets across them in hopes the zombies wouldn't realize anyone was inside. The street was alive crawling with undead creatures. She didn't see anyone who was alive.

"We were lucky." She stated flatly and sat down next to Katie.

The four of them sat there not saying a word staring off into space. All of a sudden there was a knocking at the door. It was more like someone was banging his or her fists against it begging to be let in. They heard someone yell, "Please let me in. I'll die out here."

Emily jumped up ready to admit the stranger.

"Wait." Katie said when she saw Emily move.

"What for? Zombies don't talk or knock. He's just a guy." Emily defended.

"What if he's infected with the virus or whatever?"

"What if he's not? We can't leave him to die." Emily went over to the door and opened it. On the other side stood a man. He looked to be in his early twenties with dark green eyes. He had to be at least 1.8 meters. He had a military haircut and a gash on his head that was bleeding slightly. As soon as she opened the door he lunged inside and slammed it and locked it behind him. Emily jumped back shocked and Naomi ran to her side.

"What the hell?" Naomi asked.

"I'm sorry but I can't risk you turning me away. If you sent me out there it would be a death sentence."

"She was going to let you in." Naomi argued.

"It doesn't hurt to be sure."

"Sit down. Let me get the first-aid kit for your head." Emily said and left the room.

"What happened to it?" Naomi asked the stranger.

"Car accident. One of those things jumped at my car and I swerved and hit a lamppost. Banged my head pretty well against the wheel. Then I get out to see if the guy is okay because at the time I didn't realize he was one of them and the wanker grabs me and bites my arm." At this point the man rolled up his sleeve to reveal a bite mark on his arm. "Bastard took a good chunk out of it." Emily returned and starting cleaning the blood off the guy's head before attempting to stop the bleeding from his arm.

"Thanks love." He smiled at her.

"So what did you say your name was?" Naomi asked slightly jealous of the way this man was looking at Emily.

"I didn't," He smiled at Naomi this time trying to be charming, "It's Jason and how lucky am I to be in a house with four fit birds."

"Four fit birds who are in relationships with each other." Katie said.

"I'm sorry what?" Jason asked not sure if he heard correctly.

"I'm Effy and this is my girlfriend Katie," Effy said matter of factly entwining her hand with Katie's, "and that is Naomi and her girlfriend Emily."

Jason sat there slack-jawed for a few seconds trying to comprehend what he just heard.

"Unbelievable. There are fucking zombies walking around outside and he's in shock over lesbians. Tosser." Naomi whispered to Emily.

"That's so hot. Either of you couples ever want to spice up your sex lives with a third party?" He winked.

"Ugh no thanks." Katie answered for all of them.

"Well if you ever decide you want to since now we're roommates."

The five of them spent the rest of the day watching various news channels for updates. Jason went upstairs complaining that he was feeling light-headed and needed to lie down. "Probably just shook up from the accident." He said.

At around five Naomi and Emily went into the kitchen to make something for dinner.

"How much food do we have?" Naomi asked.

"Enough for a few days I suppose."

Naomi opened the refrigerator. She pulled out a pizza box. "Is this good?"

"It's from two days ago so yeah?"

"Let's eat it then. We should eat the stuff that'll go bad first."

When the four of them decided to go to bed they walked up the stairs to the twins' room and found Jason fast asleep in Emily's bed.

"I guess we'll be in the guest room." Naomi said.

Naomi and Emily lay side-by-side in the full sized guest bed both staring up at the ceiling so close that Naomi's whole right side was in contact with Emily's whole left side.

"Naoms…" Emily whispered into the darkness, "What's going to happen to us?"

"I don't know Ems. We'll stay here for as long as we can, which judging by the food will probably be a week or two. By then I bet the whole thing will be over. I mean they have the bloody army on the case. They get shit done right?"

Emily giggled at that last line. "You really believe that?"

Naomi propped herself up on her elbow so she could look at Emily.

"I don't know." She answered honestly. "I really don't know how this is going to turn out but I do know I'm going to try my hardest to keep us safe."

Emily smiled at this notion but couldn't help but wonder, "What about everyone else? The gang?"

"I can't worry about them right now. They're not here so we can't help them. I know that sounds horrible but if you think about them all it'll drive you crazy."

"What if we hadn't been together when this happened? What if you had been at your house?" Emily asked but Naomi heard the underlying question 'Would you try not to think about me? Would you forget?'

"If we hadn't been together then I would've run out of my house so fast, god help the zombies that got in my way. Nothing could keep me away from you."

Emily leaned up and kissed Naomi's lips softly. "I love you."

"I love you too." Naomi said as she lay back on her back. Emily took advantage of this and straddled Naomi's waist with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Since we don't know how much time we have left, we should make every minute count."

Down the hall Effy and Katie lay in bed watching Jason toss and turn.

"I don't trust him." Katie said.

"Because he made that lewd comment about a three-way?" Effy asked semi-sarcastically.

"No not entirely. Because he wasn't feeling well. What if he has what Cook had? He'll turn into one of them. Then what'll happen to us?" Just as Katie said this Jason bolted out of bed and ran to the bathroom. Katie and Effy followed right behind and saw him vomiting in the toilet.

"I'm going to get Emily and Naomi." Katie said as she ran down the hall leaving Effy to watch Jason. She burst through the door and saw a very naked Naomi and Emily getting hot and heavy. She yelled, "Jesus," and immediately closed the door. Emily and Naomi got out of bed and searched for their clothes to put on.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Emily yelled through the door.

"Just call it payback, bitch, besides at least I had the courtesy to close the door and not stand there gawking."

Emily opened the door when she and Naomi were dressed. "What do you want, Katie?" She asked.

"Jason's sick. I think he has what Cook had. Now come on. I left Effy alone with him."

Naomi and Emily exchanged worried glances and followed Katie down the hall.

When they got back to the twins' room they saw Effy had managed to get Jason back onto Emily's bed and had found a bucket to give him in case he felt ill again.

"What do we do with him?" Effy asked.

"What are you talking about? I'm just a little sick. No need to be alarmed." Jason said slightly panicked.

"You see there is need for alarm because this is how it starts. In a few hours you'll be one of them." Katie said and she got a reproaching look from Naomi. "What? No need to beat around the bush. It's just fact. We need to get him out of the house."

"No. I'm not going back out there. I'm fine. I just need rest." Jason said trying to convince them as he scratched at the bite mark on his arm. As he did a huge piece of his skin fell off. He tried to hide this from the girls.

The four girls stepped into the hallway to discuss their next move.  
>"We can't let him stay not if we want to live." Katie said.<p>

"How do we get him out of here?" Effy asked.

"He's pretty weak right now. The four of us could probably move him without much of a struggle." Naomi suggested.

"Are you guys serious? We can't leave him outside to die." Emily said.

"He'll either die in here or die out there. The only difference is that if he dies in here we'll die too and I don't know about you Emsy but I don't want to die." Katie said.

"It just seems so…" Emily was cut off by a huge thud that sounded from inside the twins' room. The four girls froze in place scared of what this noise meant. They listened for any other sounds but when they didn't hear any they decided to go in and check it out. Katie opened the door and led the way. When they entered the room they saw Jason on the floor. He had fallen off the bed.

"Jason? Are you okay?" Naomi asked. She tentatively inched forward and slowly grabbed his arm. She searched for a pulse on his wrist and found none. She then tried finding one on his neck but still nothing. "He's dead." She concluded.

"How long before he comes back to life?" Effy asked.

"I don't know but we should move quickly." Naomi said as she went over to grab one of his legs. Katie, Effy, and Emily followed suit and Emily grabbed his other leg and Katie and Effy grabbed him at the shoulders. It was a struggle but the four of them managed to lift him. They made it down the stairs and were heading towards the front door when he began to twitch so violently that they dropped him. The girls fell down from the shock and crawled away from the twitching body on the floor.

"Jason?" Emily called out to him.

He stopped twitching and slowly sat up and groaned. He made an ouhhh noise and got to his feet. He seemed disorientated. "Jason?" Emily called out again. Upon hearing his name he turned towards the girls and they got a look at his eyes. They were pure white all around with a tiny pinprick of dark blue in the center for the iris. He looked almost normal except for the gash on his head wasn't healing and was still slightly bleeding and the bite mark on his arm looked red and inflamed. They noticed that on that arm patches of skin were missing in various places. When he saw them he let out a growl and bared his teeth. He lunged towards them and the girls scrambled to their feet screaming. Katie and Effy went one way and Naomi and Emily went the other. Effy and Katie ran into the kitchen and tried to circle back around to the front door while Naomi and Emily took a more direct route and made it outside. Zombie Jason had decided to follow Katie and Effy. He didn't move as fast as they did but he stayed pretty close on their heels. In the kitchen Effy grabbed her car keys that she had thrown on the counter the night before. As they were running through the hallway towards the front door Effy tripped over a table and hit the ground. She was surprised by the fall and stayed down longer than she should have. Jason grabbed her by her hair and attempted to use her hair to pull her face close to his mouth to bite but luckily Katie hadn't been too far ahead of Effy and had heard the fall. Effy struggled and squirmed to try to get out of Jason's grasp but couldn't escape. Katie looked around frantically and spotted a flowerpot on a nearby table. She grabbed it and smashed it over Jason's head. Dirt rained down on him and Effy and he let go of her hair. Katie grabbed her arm and they sprinted out of the front door. They met Naomi and Emily who had been crouched hiding behind Effy's car. Effy handed Naomi the keys because she was too shook up to drive and they all climbed in. Naomi backed out of the Fitch driveway running over a zombie that had been lying there. She started driving down the road.

After a while of taking random streets Naomi said, "I don't know where to go and we can't drive forever." They couldn't stop either. Everywhere they looked there were zombies walking around. When they heard the car, they attempted to run after it. They had been listening to the radio and all roads out of Bristol had been blocked off by the military. No one could enter the city and no one could leave. It was part of the quarantine.

"We have to think. Where would we be safe?" Effy said. They all sat there while Naomi continued to aimlessly drive around. Before anyone could answer they found themselves on JJ's street. "Do you think he's there?"

"Do you think he's alive?" Katie voiced the question no one else wanted to say out loud.

"If anyone one of us were to survive a zombie outbreak, I think it would be JJ. He's clever that way." Emily reassured everyone.

There weren't that many zombies on JJ's street, just a few stragglers walking around. They were far enough away from the car to not notice it. Naomi pulled into JJ's driveway. The girls exited the vehicle and very cautiously and with ever shifting eyes surveying their surroundings from every direction they made their way towards JJ's front door. They were discouraged when they found it broken off its hinges. Now on high alert they moved into the house. It appeared empty no people and no zombies. They found a baseball bat and some butcher knives in the kitchen for weapons just in case. After thoroughly searching the house and finding nothing Effy saw that the door to the basement was locked.

"You suppose they have a sort of safe house down there?" Katie asked.

Effy knocked lightly on the door and called, "JJ." There was no answer. The second time she knocked much louder and was answered with a couple of groans that came from the basement.

"There are zombies down there. How did zombies get locked down there?" Katie asked.

Effy knocked even louder and yelled out, "JJ." The groans became louder but the girls also heard a pair of feet running up the stairs and then the door was jerked open by none other than a disheveled looking JJ. It was completely out of character for JJ but he hugged all four of his friends.

"I'm so glad you guys are okay…wait…none of you were bit or scratched were you?" JJ asked and his eyes began roaming around the exposed skin of his friends.

"No. Why?" Naomi asked.

"That's how the virus is transmitted through bites or scratches. I didn't know what Cook had so I didn't know how it was transmitted but then when they discovered it was zombies it was simple. The baby bird essentially bit Cook who in turn bit Arsia, which is how the whole thing started. I can only imagine the chaos that broke out after we left the hospital when Cook changed. I'm glad we didn't stay there or who knows."

"Is there a cure?" Katie asked the encyclopedia that was JJ.

"Different movies present different cures in different ways but there is no definite way to cure it that I can think of considering it began in such a random and ambiguous way."

"How do you kill them?" Naomi decided this was a much more important question.

"Have you people really never watched a zombie movie? To kill a zombie you must stop the little brain activity that is going on. This means cut of their heads, shoot them in the head, crush their skulls, or any strong enough blow to the head that destroys the brain. You can shoot them anywhere else, stomach or heart, it won't matter. They will continue to move. It is only when you sever the brain activity that they are truly dead."

"We need guns." Naomi realized.

"I have some. Downstairs." JJ said and four pairs of eyes looked at him with the same question in them.

"Part of our survival room. There is food down there, batteries, flashlights, first aid kits, guns, and various other things one might need. My parents like me anticipated the end of the world in some way or other and we made sure we were prepared." JJ admitted.

"What was with the groaning coming from down there?" Effy asked.

"It's…" JJ stopped. He was never at a loss for words.

"Out with it Jay." Naomi commanded.

"Freddie." JJ said and scurried back down the stairs.

"Freddie?" Effy asked aloud more to herself than anyone else. When the word sunk in, the four girls ran down the stairs to see what JJ was talking about. They were not prepared for what they saw.

It was Freddie chained to one of the basement walls. He looked…dead. His skin was no longer the beautiful tan hue but grey and sallow looking. His clothes were torn and bloody. There were bite-marks on his neck and arms. His t-shirt had been ripped open, as had his stomach. Part of his intestines could be seen poking through the skin.

"Freddie…" Effy took a step toward him and Katie grabbed her arm to stop her. Even though Freddie and Effy's relationship had been toxic and destructive for the both of them, they both still had a soft spot in their hearts for each other. He did because he was still in love with her and she did because he was the first person she allowed to get close enough to her to allow her to love someone else. For her, Effy believed, this helped her allow Katie to get close and for that she had to thank Freddie for helping her to take the first step to finding the person she was meant to be with. Freddie and Effy when together went over the edge with drugs and alcohol. Effy went mad and being constantly stoned didn't help either one of them. Katie drew the line for Effy and helped her not to cross it. She showed Effy what it was like to be high without doing drugs, drunk without drinking. Still she cared about Freddie and it was painful to see him like this for the others too.

"We didn't hear the news report until it was too late. My father left the house to go to work but there were zombies in the street. They attacked him and my mother rushed to see what the commotion was. Freddie had stayed overnight. We were both shook up over Cook. A three musketeer had fallen. We remaining two had to stick together. Upon hearing my mother's screams he ran and I went to get a gun from this basement. By the time I got there they were dead. Zombies feasting on their flesh." JJ paused at this point to try and collect himself. "I realized in that moment that it was in fact zombies we were dealing with. I don't know what possessed me…science? But I grabbed Freddie's body and locked the front door. I dragged him down here quickly before he was reanimated and chained him to the wall. I locked the basement door and it wasn't long after I heard them break down the front door. When they found no people they must have went in search somewhere else. I wanted to see if I could satisfy the zombies' cravings. I fed him all the emergency food that was down here. Alas nothing seemed to stop him from trying to get at me like he's trying to get at us now." JJ finished.

Freddie was pulling his chains taut and stretching towards the five people standing across from him. Their eyes never left Freddie during JJ's story.

"So we can't stay here then?" Naomi asked.

"No, I wasted all the food. I was just down here watching him. I couldn't make much of a plan on my own." JJ answered sadly.

"Let's go then back to Effy's car. We'll have to think of somewhere safe to go."

"What do we do about…?" Effy asked pointing to Freddie.

"Leave him? He's dead but I can't bring myself to shoot him. He's not hurting anyone. I don't see any harm in leaving him chained here." JJ suggested.

"But it's so horrible. Shouldn't we put him out of his misery?" Effy asked. Everyone looked down at the ground not wanting to be the one to put him out of his misery. They couldn't imagine shooting their friend even if it wasn't really him anymore.

"It should be me. I'll do it." Effy decided.

"Are you sure?" Katie asked grabbing her hand.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She offered Katie a weak smile and squeezed her hand. "Can you guys go upstairs? I want to be alone when I do it."

JJ gave Effy one of the handguns and passed one to each of the other girls. He grabbed the rest of the guns and the bags of extra ammunition to take with them. Naomi helped him carry it all. She took one last look at Freddie. "Bye Freds." She said and went up the stairs. Emily, Katie, and JJ echoed her 'Bye Freds' and followed her upstairs. JJ was the last and stopped on the bottom step. He turned to look at Freddie one last time. "Three musketeers." He said and climbed the stairs.

Effy stood there looking at Freddie trying to get at her. "You may not know this, Freds, but you did really help me. You made me realize it was worth letting people get close. I know things didn't turn out the way you wanted them to. I know you still love me and I still love you too but we were no good for each other. Apart from drugs there was nothing we had in common. I'm in love with Katie and I know if you had been given the time and chance you would've found the girl that you would've fallen in love with. I'm really sorry you won't get that opportunity. I'm really sorry ten years down the road we won't be able to have a drink at Keith's pub and talk about the good old days. I'll miss you Freds." Tears had been filling Effy's eyes as she tried to get her closure and now they silently made their way down her cheeks. She picked up the gun and pointed it at Freddie's head. Upstairs the three girls and JJ sat in the living room. Emily had her arm around JJ's shoulders comforting him. They heard one shot go off and then footsteps coming up the stairs.

"We have to go." Effy said when she emerged through the door her voice strangled from crying. Katie went over and put an arm around her waist.

"How did it go?" JJ asked wanting to know what happened down there.

"I couldn't do it. I shot the wall. I couldn't shoot Freds even if it's not Freds. I couldn't do it." The gang nodded silently knowing none of them could do it either. "We have to go." Effy repeated.

The five of them piled into Effy's car and she drove off. All of them still unsure where to go.


	3. The Castle

**Thanks to all who read and reviewed. This chapter has been ready for about a week but I haven't had time to post it but finally I do yay! I love Edgar Allen Poe's writings so there is a reference to "The Masque of the Red Death". Check it out if you like his writings and haven't read it yet. As always let me know what you think. I love reading all your reviews and I'm so happy you enjoy the story. **

"Statistically speaking the best place to go in a zombie outbreak would be somewhere with lots of food, possibly a farm, that's far away from the city where there are few people around. Few people means fewer zombies." JJ said as they drove around with no direction.

"A supermarket? There's plenty of food there." Emily suggested.

"There all in the city. There would be too many zombies around."

"The mall? There was a zombie movie where they lived for a while in a mall wasn't there? One of my lame boyfriends made me watch it. Of course we didn't get too far into it before we started to…" Katie said.

"Enough. We don't need the rest of the story." Effy cut in.

Katie blushed.

"Yes Dawn of the Dead but I think there would be too many zombies there too. I fear that we are not qualified to fight zombies and make our way through a crowd of them. You see in that movie they at least had a skilled cop with them and an ex-con and a nurse, much more qualified than five teenagers. I still suggest we find some place far from where most people live."

"Where JJ?" Effy asked becoming exasperated that although he was shooting down everyone's suggestions he wasn't coming up with any real ones of his own.

"I got it. You know the old castle?" JJ said.  
>"The one in the forest, where this whole thing started?" Naomi asked already not liking where JJ was going.<p>

"Yes precisely. Cook, Freds, and I thought it was haunted when we were younger. We went there one day after school and snuck in the window. Everyone knows that no one lives there but we heard movement. I wanted to leave but Cook made us stay. We found the caretaker in the kitchen. He kept the place clean and stocked with food for when the owner wanted to come back. Of course the owner never did but the caretaker was paid to make sure the place was ready just in case the owner ever did. He is some rich man. It's big, far from the city, and we know there's food there. I'd say it is our safest bet."

"Since we can't think of anything better I say we try it." Effy said and started driving towards the forest.

The farther they drove the fewer zombies they saw. The rest of the drive was in complete silence. JJ lay in the back with an arm covering his eyes silently grieving for the loss of his two best friends and parents. Emily rested her head against Naomi's shoulder with her eyes closed but unable to sleep as Naomi stared out the window her mind racing with too many thoughts to articulate and one that she was too scared to, she wondered how her mum and Kieran were. Katie babbled to Effy in the front seat about all her clothes that she would never see again and Effy listened responding at the appropriate times with sarcastic and smug comments, both of them trying to keep their nerves at bay. They finally pulled up to the outskirts of the forest where they had to leave the car. They all looked out the windows and surveyed their surroundings. As JJ had suspected there were no zombies since no people lived anywhere near here. They grabbed their guns and ammunition and as quietly as possible started their journey into the forest.

It was a decent hike to the castle. It was in the dead center of the forest, literally. The owner had wanted it perfectly centered so he had it built exactly in the middle. Usually when the gang camped they didn't go anywhere near it but stayed more on the outskirts rather than the middle. Luckily JJ knew where to go from memory. He led the silent party through. They were all on high alert constantly looking for any zombies that might be in the forest. Katie heard a noise and grabbed Emily's arm to stop her.

"Wait." She whispered. The rest of the gang froze in place. There was a rustling noise to the left. Katie aimed her gun and fired on instinct not really sure what she was shooting at.

"Holy crap, Katie." Naomi exclaimed in shock that both Katie fired the gun at something unknown and that she actually hit her target. There on their left in a pile of leaves lay a dead rabbit bloody from the single bullet wound in its body. They all went over to examine the rabbit.

"I didn't know. It could've been a zombie. It could've been a zombie rabbit. Aww bunny." Katie said as she frowned and bent over the rabbit.

"So all those leopard prints you wear then, Katie, I'm assuming you actually killed them and made your clothes rather than buying them." Naomi quipped.

"Oh shut up, bitch."

"This could be a good thing. I smell dinner." JJ said proudly as he held up the dead rabbit.

"Gross I am not eating that. What if it's infected with the zombie virus or whatever?"

"It doesn't matter. Even if it is infected after skinning and cooking it, it won't matter. You need a direct transfer of their blood or saliva straight to your blood so once it is cooked, if it was indeed infected with the virus, it will be no threat. Besides it's not still alive now despite the fact that you didn't sever the brain activity so I think that proves that it is not infected." JJ smiled triumphantly.

"There's food at the castle, right? So this is unnecessary." Effy said trying to help Katie out.

"Eventually the food will run out and these woods provide a great place to hunt. I think this rabbit here is the perfect experiment." He stuffed it into one of the empty compartments of the ammunition bag. He continued his journey not leaving the subject for further debate.

Naomi opened her mouth to make another smart-ass comment but Katie stopped her before a word even left her mouth, "Don't even think about it Campbell or I'll shoot you next, which apparently isn't an empty threat." Naomi closed her mouth but smirked nonetheless.

The five of them stood outside the castle, looking up at it.

"So how exactly do we get in?" Naomi asked.

"There's a key under the welcome mat." JJ stated.

"There's a key under the welcome mat?" Naomi asked incredulously.

"For the caretaker. No one ever comes out this far so the owner never thought to worry about anyone sneaking in. We had to sneak in the window when we were younger because the caretaker had the key with him because he was already inside."

"You sure know a lot about this place, Jay." Emily said looking up at him.

"Yes well when we had snuck in before we had a nice conversation with the caretaker who apparently liked to hit the whiskey as he took care of the place. He was very forthcoming with the information and I just filed it away until I needed it." JJ walked up to the front door and picked up the welcome mat but there was nothing there. He turned around empty handed to face the girls. "Maybe he forgot and took it with him last time he was here." JJ stood there, welcome mat in hand, with a thoughtful look on his face. He turned back to the door and started knocking.

"JJ, what are you doing? There's no one here." Effy said but the boy didn't listen to her just continued to knock.

To all five of their surprise a girl answered, a blue-eyed girl with her blonde hair done up in pigtails.

"Panda?" Effy said as she walked up the stairs towards her best friend.

"I saw you guys through the window when I heard the knocking. Whizzer cool that you showed up here. None of you are infected though right? Aunt Lizzie won't let you stay if you are."

"Aunt Lizzie?" Katie questioned.

"Yeah she owns this place. When she found out about the zombie outbreak on the news she took her tank and came and picked up me and Tommo. Mum's out of town with our neighbor on some business trip or something boring like that. So she picked us up and brought us here to be safe. Pretty bitchin' huh?"

"Tank?" Emily asked but before Pandora could answer JJ interfered. "None of us are infected. You can examine us but we came to seek shelter. I thought this would be the safest place."

"Well you'd be right about that. Come on. Tommo and Lizzie-poo are making some soup." Pandora said as she turned around and led them into the house.

Bewildered the five teenagers followed their friend inside the big front doors. They entered into a big room with two identical staircases that lined the walls leading to the upstairs. They had mahogany hand railings and a red carpet with an ornate pattern in gold. They curled so each of their first steps were only centimeters apart and they stood not far from the front door. Along the walls underneath the stairs were two lines of suits of armor. In the center of the ceiling was one giant, shiny chandelier and surrounding it in concentric circles were plants hanging from the ceiling. The walls curved giving the room a circular appearance and they closed on one normal sized door, which looked tiny surrounded by this high ceilinged and vast room.

The six of them made their way through the room, a bouncing Pandora leading the way humming a tune, the rest of them transfixed by the room trying to take in all the details. Through the door was a short hallway with three doors to each wall. Also adorning the walls were pictures of…castles, four altogether in between the doors. Pandora explained that behind each of these doors were storage rooms for extra food. They continued on to the end of the hallway and went through the door there. It led into the kitchen.

The kitchen was surprisingly normal looking and small in comparison with the first room. The appliances, the refrigerator, the stove, and all the other appliances, lined the walls and in the center was a counter with stools on one side like you would see in a diner. They found Aunt Liz and Thomas sitting there and laughing as the soup cooked on the stove.

"Auntie Lizzie, look what I found at the door." Pandora said. Aunt Liz and Thomas swiveled around in their seats to face the group. While Thomas continued to smile, Aunt Liz's smile froze and then turned down into a frown.

"While it is wonderful that now your friends are here, love, I hope they know this means I'll have to inspect them." Aunt Liz directed to Pandora.

"Of course, Lizzie, I told them they couldn't stay if they were infected. The inspection was implied you see? Don't worry the three of us already were so we're safe." Pandora said as she stood in between Thomas legs, his arms around her.

"What exactly does this inspection entail?" Naomi asked all business.

"Your standard strip search. I need to make sure there are no bites or scratches on you. I'll be waiting in the dining room." Aunt Liz stood up from her seat and went through the door to what the group presumed was the dining room.

"I'm not stripping for her." Katie decided.

"You have to. She won't let you stay if you don't. Thomas and I did and then I inspected Aunt Lizzie so it's not like we're discriminating against you or anything." Pandora suggested.

"Fine but I'm not going in there with all of you and I'm not going in there alone." Katie added. There were only two people she would want to go with her. Either Emily or Effy and she preferred the latter.

"Come on Katiekins. We can go together. Nothing we haven't already seen right?" Effy said as she grabbed Katie's hand and led her through the door to the dining room.

"Will you be alright going in alone, JJ?" Emily asked as she laid a comforting hand on his arm.

"Yes getting naked is extremely easy. I find it better than having innumerable doctors trying to poke around inside my head." He smiled kindly at Emily.

Minutes later Effy and Katie emerged through the door. Their clothes slightly askew and messed up as if they had thrown them on quickly.

"That was slightly degrading." Effy stated. "But we passed."

JJ went next and then Naomi and Emily. All of them passed happily. When the food was ready they all filed into the dining room. It was another big room with dark wood paneling on three of the walls. The fourth consisted of a huge bay window looking out on a beautiful garden. During this breakfast Aunt Liz described the structure of the castle a bit so her guests could get used to it. It was made of four wings, north, south, east, and west. It was a giant square and in the center as they could now see was the garden, so they could go outside and still be safely inside the castle walls, Liz informed them. When JJ asked if she too had anticipated some kind of apocalypse as the reason for the castle, Liz responded by saying she just liked her privacy. She was a bit of an eccentric recluse but the gang expected nothing else from a relative of Panda's. Towards the end of their breakfast Aunt Liz did have some bad news to break to them.

"The caretaker, Jackson, stocked the place with food, you know nonperishables and he froze things like bread and steaks. In theory we would be able to live here for quite some time had the place been fully stocked like it usually is. But I began to skeeve the thought of ever having to eat that food so I had Jackson clean it all out. He could use what he wanted and discard the rest so he could start from scratch. Well I came to visit him during one of his trips here as he was restocking and we got a bit distracted. I thought of another job he had yet to do that required both of our presences…" At this point Aunt Liz looked around to see if they all had gotten the reference. She wasn't convinced they had. "Breaking in the master bed. A bed's only good to sleep on after it had been broken in and I do need my beauty sleep so I need a good bed. We properly shagged the day away so he didn't have time to completely restock and as anyone knows it takes more than one session to break in a bed so the next time he came we had to continue the process. Long story short he never did get around to completely restocking the place. We have some food but I'm afraid you young folks will have to make a trip to the grocery store." She said this last sentence as casually as she would have if there wasn't a zombie outbreak outside these walls. "You can decide who amongst you will go. I'll leave money in the kitchen for you to take."

Naomi couldn't let the ridiculousness go on, "I don't think we're going to need money with everyone being dead and all."

"Ha-ha yes well. I'll be in the garden taking my after breakfast walk. Do be safe and get some good food." Aunt Liz said as she exited the room.

"You're aunt is one loony bird." Naomi said to Pandora. "Looks like things didn't go according to plan huh, Jay?"

"No. At least we have some food and Katie's rabbit." He said as he went into the kitchen to put it into the refrigerator.

"It's not _my_ rabbit." Katie yelled after him.

He returned and continued as if he didn't hear Katie's comment. "Even with the food I think we should address the problem sooner rather than later. There's too much that can go wrong. The power could go out and even if she has some external one those are never completely reliable and there's the risk that even though the food is rather new it could be no good so we should get some instant stuff like…"

"JJ," Naomi cut him off. "You're getting locked on again. We will address the problem of food later. We have all been awake for over twenty-four hours. We need some sleep. We can discuss this later, yeah?"

"Actually Tommo and I had a super night's sleep. I mean we didn't sleep the whole time. We…" Pandora started but his time it was Thomas's time to do the cutting off.

"Yes we slept very well, Panda, but our friend's have not. We shall lead them to their rooms and let them rest."

"He's so brainy, isn't he?" Pandora said a big goofy smile on her face as she looked up at Thomas.

Pandora led them out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"We sleep in the east wing. That's where Aunt Lizzie's master bedroom is and we figured it would be safer to be close and there are enough bedrooms for you guys too. Whizzer cool, yeah, it's almost like being in boarding school." Pandora said excitedly.

"Except without the actual school." Naomi said under her breath only loud enough for Emily to her who gave her a small smile but her eyes held a warning, 'Don't crush Panda's dreams. The situation is bad enough.'

As they walked to their bedrooms Thomas attempted to explain some more about the house that Aunt Liz had told him and Panda.

"We haven't heard much about the north or south wings and we haven't done much exploring yet but Panda's aunt did tell us that the west wing is modeled after Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Masque of the Red Death.' I'm afraid that I'm not exactly sure what that means." Thomas admitted.

Effy decided to help him since Poe was one of her favorites. "It is a story about a prince who locked himself inside his palace with many servants and revelers to escape the red death. There is a great ballroom with seven suites. Each suite is themed with a color and adorned with stain glass windows that when the fires around are lit they project those colors and illuminate the rooms with extravagant appearances. The colors of the rooms are blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and the seventh was black but its windows were a deep blood red. The revelers loved the room except for the last one, which also contained an ebony clock that on each hour would strike and everyone in the party would stop because it was such an ominous sound. One day an extremely grotesque guest joins the party and he is infected with the red death and the prince chases him to the black room to murder him. However, when prince confronts the guest, he dies and the revelers see there is no one beneath the cloak of the mysterious guest. The red death had gotten inside and everyone ends up dying." As she had started this story the group had stopped walking to listen to it.

"Not a very hopeful coincidence considering the situation we're in now. I suggest we stay away from the west wing." Naomi said. The rest of the group nodded and continued their journey in silence all of them thinking about the story.

After that comparison no one knew what to expect from the bedrooms they were staying in but were relived when Pandora showed them surprisingly normal looking rooms. They chose rooms close to each other and went to rest as Pandora and Thomas decided to explore the garden.

Naomi sat on the king-sized bed taking off her shoes as Emily looked around the huge room and opened the door. After a few minutes she reentered the room.

"We have our own bathroom. If this wasn't so horrible, it would actually be extremely romantic and beautiful. I think I'm going to shower."

"Good idea, Ems. I don't think you have in ages."

"And what about you Ms. Campbell? Look at yourself. There is Jason's blood on your clothes."

"Darn I didn't pack my overnight bag so I have nothing glamorous to change in to."

At this comment Emily decided to look around some more and found another door that led to a walk-in-closet.

"We're in luck. Clothes for every gender and size. I don't know what Aunt Liz expected to do with this place but she sure was prepared. We're lucky she is one loony bird. Now I'm going to shower. Are you going to join or not?" Emily asked facing Naomi with her arms crossed over her chest and an insistent look on her face.

"I can't believe you're still thinking about that with all that's going on."

The look on Emily's face fell and was replaced by a frown and her arms dropped to her side. "All I can think about is what's going on and how awful it is. I don't know what is going on outside of Bristol or what happened to my parents or James or what happened to your mum and Kieran. And it's horrible to think about Cook and Freddie because they were fine only two days ago and then seeing Freddie like that…and I'm scared that something is going to happen to me or you cause I'm one-hundred percent sure I can't live without you. I'm trying to enjoy the time we do have and keep my thoughts positive because I feel very close to breaking down. Don't let me break down." Emily finished tears running down her cheeks. Naomi went over and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. Emily buried her face in Naomi's neck and held her tightly.

"I'm sorry. I'm just…stressed and I'm not strong like you, Em. You're always positive, like this big ball of sunshine and I'm like this dark cloud that ruins your mood with all my stupid thoughts that I can't stop."

Emily pulled away from Naomi to look up at her. "You're like Eeyore." She said with a smile. Although there were still traces of tears on her face no new ones had fallen. Naomi frowned at this notion and thought for a moment.

"I always pictured myself more as Rabbit."

"Don't tell Katie she'll shoot you."

"As if she needs anymore reason to."

Emily giggled at this and leaned up to kiss Naomi on the cheek. "How about that shower now?" She whispered into Naomi's ear and she could feel the shiver that traveled down the other girl's body. She pulled completely away from Naomi and bounced toward the bathroom a self-satisfied smirk on her face. Naomi heard the shower turn on and all other thoughts besides the redhead immediately left her head. She followed and shut the door behind her.

They didn't speak another word until they were cuddled up in their king-sized bed.

"Ems," Naomi said softly as she played with her girlfriend's hair, "you think my mum and Kieran are alright?"

Emily, who had been drifting off, was now wide-awake. She could hear the scared almost childlike tone in Naomi's voice. It wasn't one she heard often. It was usually her who asked these types of questions.

"I'm sure they're fine. I can just see them now blockading the doors and windows as Kieran yells 'You right bunch of ugly fuckers, if those good for nothing students couldn't break me, you bastards sure won't." Emily attempted her best imitation of Kieran's Irish accent, which received a laugh from Naomi. "And your mum will support him. She's become quite the fighter from attending all those protests and having to keep the sodden cops off her not mention handling all the squatters that used to live in your house. She's strong like you. You're strong like her."

Naomi thought about this for a moment. "Emily?"

"Yeah."

"I love you."

"I know." Emily answered with a smile.

The next thing Naomi knew there was a frantic knocking on the door and she jumped out of bed with a start. She found a robe and wrapped it around herself. Emily merely turned over in bed but stayed asleep. Naomi smiled at the sight. Not even the end of the world could wake that girl up. She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway to meet the source of the noise, Katie.

"Yes? Can I help you with something?" Naomi asked a bit irritated not too keen on being woken up especially by Katie Fitch.

"You lezzers ever wake up?"

"I'm not sure if it's more okay for you to say that now that your dating Effy or less."

"Really not the point Campbell. We have a problem. Aunt Liz is throwing a fucking temper tantrum about this food shopping bullshit. She's convinced we're all going to die if we don't go today."  
>"What time is it?" Naomi asked confused. She thought Aunt Liz had seemed calm if not crazy when they had gone to sleep only a few hours ago.<p>

"Half-past nine…in the morning. You slept for almost twenty-four hours."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So can you get my slag of a sister up and come join us? We're deciding who's going to go."

Emily and Naomi were the last two to wander into the dining room. The rest of gang was already in what looked like a heated debate. Naomi did notice that Aunt Liz was missing. When she asked about it, Effy was the one to answer. "She's taking her after breakfast walk. She seemed to be satisfied that we were finally making progress on the food situation. She only made one rule-Pandora is not to go."

Naomi looked over at Pandora and noticed she was crying.

"Tommo wants to go." Pandora said.

"I run fast, like a dog. I'll be useful and safe. Pandora, I'll be safe." Thomas said as he kneeled down in front of her and held her face in his big hands. He nodded and smiled at her and she nodded back.

"I think I should go." Katie spoke up uncharacteristically serious. "That shot in the forest wasn't just lucky. Me and Ems have been to the shooting range quite a bit. Dad wants us to know how to protect ourselves. Even though Emily was complete shit at it, I am a fucking fantastic shot."

"She hit all the targets in the right spots or whatever." Emily added.

"So I'm going but Ems you're not."

Emily opened her mouth to protest but before Katie could stop her Naomi did.

"She's right, Emily, you're staying here. It's not really your scene anyway." Naomi said trying to soften the blow. She really meant that if they knew for a fact Emily couldn't shoot then she wouldn't be much help. Plus Naomi suspected that Katie like herself didn't want to have to worry about Emily.

"I don't understand why we all aren't going, besides Pandora. Strength in numbers, right?"

"Not if some of us aren't useful. We don't need useless people Ems." Katie said to her sister.

Naomi shot daggers to Katie. "We're just creating a small concise group that we'll be able to protect and…keep track of. If there are too many people it'll be hard to stay together." Naomi rationalized.

"So you're going then?" Emily asked her.

Naomi looked down at the ground unable to make a verbal answer but still staying yes with her actions.

"Then I'm going." Emily said.

"No, there will be none of this Titanic lovers bullshit if you jump I jump rubbish. Ems you're staying. Naomi is coming with Thomas, Effy, and me. Pandora and JJ will stay too." Katie ordered.

"How come you _and_ Effy get to go?" Emily asked.

"It's her car." Katie said.

"Plus I know how to handle a gun." Effy added and winked at Emily.

"What about JJ's hunting idea?" Emily asked with a start as if a light bulb had just lit up in her head.

"Aunt Liz shot it down. Apparently she doesn't trust the animals in the forest either." JJ explained dejectedly. "I think you guys should go now. You don't know how long it'll take and I suggest you try getting back before dark."

The group made their way to the front door.

"Don't worry. I'm coming back. Katie's got my back. Right Katiekins?" Naomi called out as she hugged Emily goodbye.

"Right. Not cause I like you or anything just cause I don't want to have to listen to Ems."

"Thanks for clearing that up. I'm sure we would've wondered if you didn't."

Katie smirked at Naomi and went back to checking the guns and ammunition with Effy. Naomi kissed Emily's lips slowly trying to commit the way it felt to memory. Even though she didn't want Emily to know it might be there last kiss she wondered if it would be.

"All right let's do this bitches." Katie said breaking both Pandora and JJ and Naomi and Emily out of their moments.

Effy, Katie, Naomi, and Thomas left the castle as Pandora locked the door behind them. Thomas led them through the forest and they saw the zombies still hadn't inhabited it, which they took as a good sign. They made it back to the car that was still there and Effy began driving back towards the city. As they got closer they saw more zombies then when they had left. They were large clusters and masses of them on sidewalks and in the streets.

"I don't know if we're going to make it. Maybe we should…" Effy's sentence was cutoff as the car was jerked and she turned the wheel sharply to try and right it. The car swerved into a nearby lamppost. The four teens were tossed around from the impact. Effy was the first one to recover herself. She had a gash on her forehead from where she hit the steering wheel.

"Is everyone alright?" She asked as she reached over to Katie in the passenger seat.

The other three answered her. Apart from an assortment of minor cuts and bruises they all were intact.

"What was that?" Naomi asked rubbing her head.

"You must have hit something. It sounded like you popped a tire." Thomas offered.

"Well what are we supposed to do now?" Katie asked.

"Guys…" Naomi said as she looked out the rear window. They all turned and saw a female zombie pressing her face and hands against the window. All the skin on her face was missing and all that was left was a bright red bloody mess. She left streaks of blood on the window as she swayed back and forth and her tongue darted out to lick up the traces of it as she swayed. One of her hands looked like hamburger meat from being run over and the other's fingers were bent at grotesque angles. She made growling noises and her white eyes never left the four teens in the car.

"We can handle just one…" Effy started to say but there was a loud bang on her left where two more zombies were banging their fists against the door. Before anyone could really register the two newcomers there was a swarm of zombies surrounding the car. They were all pushing on it and making it rock. The noise had drawn them to the car crash.

**So not too much zombie action in this chapter but I had to set up a place for them to stay. Next chapter there will be more I promise. So who thinks the castle is actually safe?**


End file.
